Lupus: A condition silently affecting women in the Black community

[Father Dingle]

Down here in Brazil, we are making an effort to produce some lupus patient education materials and lupus awareness programs. We could use some ideas and help from some of those beautiful Portuguese women in Providence, RI. Men also get lupus <<that message needs to be sent. My email is fatherdingle@gmail.com. I live in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; Have you ever visited Salvador?

[jpbray]

Father Dingle,
Aren't you working on a lupus awareness project in Brazil? Do you know anyone there who is battling the disease and would be willing to share their story from diagnosis to day-to-day dealing with the condition?

[Father Dingle]

Heart disease is the nation’s number one killer of women. But many people are unaware that lupus dramatically raises this risk. Young women with lupus in particular have had discouraging headlines to read recently, with studies showing that despite their youth, the disease automatically makes them as much as 50 times more likely than other young women to have a heart attack or angina (chest pain). Cardiovascular disease and stroke threaten the lives of more than a third of women with lupus.
According to key research, women with lupus under age 40 are nearly five times more likely to have atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) than their healthy, same-age peers. And that’s regardless of conventional risk factors like smoking, high cholesterol, advanced age, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes.
To learn more about how lupus affects the heart, visit our website:

+ An Introduction to Lupus & The Heart »

+ More Advanced Information on Lupus & The Heart »

[jpbray]

I'm not sure I understand all of this. How do you get Lupus? Is it hereditary? Do you catch it? Does it just develop?

How do you avoid it? Is it like diabetes or high blood pressure, which can be avoided to a point with diet and exercise? This is probably pretty basic, but I still don't know. Help me get it.

[Father Dingle]

Father Dingle says that this Lupus Research Institute and Association of Black Cardiologists Launch National Educational Program on Lupus and Heart Disease is important to you as a Black Woman
As the nation’s leader in funding novel research on heart disease in lupus, the Lupus Research Institute announced today that it is launching a five-city Continuing Medical Education (CME) series to educate the medical community about the significant cardiovascular dangers present in individuals with lupus—particularly young women and women of color for whom heart disease is not normally considered a risk.

The program aims to arm primary care physicians, cardiologists and rheumatologists with the latest information on cardiovascular disease in lupus, a potentially life-threatening complication, so as to increase early detection and hopefully prevent heart attack and stroke through vigilance and aggressive treatment.
The joint programs will be held in New York (March 8), San Francisco (March 15), Chicago (March 28), Los Angeles (March 31) and Detroit (April 25), with sessions presented by guest faculty members from the cardiology and rheumatology communities.

Members of the medical community are invited to register for the free programs online at www.abcardio.org »

[Father Dingle]

In search of Obama in Brazil no Yahoo! Vídeo

- Sep 26, 2008 - [ Translate this page ]
A group of politically engaged Afro-Brazilians want to find an Obama of their own.
br.video.yahoo.com/watch/3262393/9193424 - 73k - Cached

[Father Dingle]

Welcome to Obama-mania, Brazil-style. Few countries have embraced the idea of the US's first black president as enthusiastically as Brazil, a country with one of the largest Afro-descendant populations on Earth yet where black faces remain a minority in politics. Obama T-shirts are everywhere while chat shows and newspaper columns are filled with talk of the 47-year-old Illinois senator.

Now even Brazil's politicians are lining up for their piece of the pie. Due to a quirk of Brazilian law, candidates are allowed to run under the name of their choice. As a result, at least six Brazilian politicians have officially renamed themselves "Barack Obama" in a bid to get an edge over their rivals in October's municipal elections.

Os "Barrack Obama" brasileiros | br.br101.org
- [ Translate this page ]
15 Set 2008 ... Welcome to Obama-mania, Brazil-style. Few countries have embraced the idea of the US's first black president as enthusiastically as Brazil, ...
br.br101.org/barrack-obama-brasileiro.html - 21k - Cached